Six Wives of the Brothers Grimm

Six Wives for the Brothers Grimmpresents six dioramas exploring themes raised by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm and other sources of fairy and folk tales. Designed for Brooklyn’s urban, plural environment, the panels depict sculptural figures I created by applying traditional and non-traditional bookbinding techniques to pigment-stiffened articles of clothing embedded with objects. Many of the figures open to reveal one-of-a-kind books and additional objects. Serving as the characters’ inner voices, the hand-made books contain excerpts from Emily Dickinson poems about the personal tragedies, usually romantic, people secretly endure. The lettering in the texts is all hand-cut, reflecting the fragility of their expression.

This was first shown at the Brooklyn Public Library's Grand Army Plaza-Central Branch in 2004.